Shoppers take a breather at Stockton-on-Tees market. Photograph: Alamy

Ten years ago the people of Hull were left reeling at the news that their town had been declared the worst in Britain (OK, it is a city really, but that didn't help their case very much). The publication of a book Crap Towns: The 50 Worst Places to Live in the UK captured the attention of the nation's media and there were follow-up articles in their hundreds decrying the place. Even today if you stopped people on the nation's streets the chances are that many would recall that Hull is synonymous with crap.

The authors of the book have decided to follow up with a second edition: Crap Towns Returns: Back by Unpopular Demand. They have drawn up a shortlist of 100 towns from submissions made by members of the public. The challenge has been laid down to residents to speak up and defend their towns if they want to avoid being on the final list of 50 that will make it into print.

Stockton-on-Tees is on that list.

Of course, it is a bit of fun really; the book will mainly be bought as a stocking filler – and, I dare say, kept in the smallest room as light reading by the recipients. We need to retain a sense of humour about these things, but there is a darker side which we shouldn't ignore.

That's a great boost for the area, but some of the good work that brought that accolade could be undone if the town were to receive the kind of negative knocking that Hull suffered back in 2003.

It's always been popular for southerners to imagine that 'oop north' is full of old men in flat caps with whippets, sitting in the pub, playing dominoes, talking of the old days in the pits and spitting on the open fire, dreaming of the future installation of electricity. And Stocktonians are well used to nobody knowing where they come from when they go on holiday. Any town in the North East therefore is always going to be at a slight disadvantage in having a good national reputation, but that doesn't mean we should shrug our shoulders resignedly and go back to reading the Racing Post.

We need to shout up loudly for Stockton and keep it out of this, ahem, crap book. I have launched a campaign to promote all the great things about Stockton so that we can thumb our noses at the authors and publishers.

Thankfully visitors to the town – and there are hundreds of thousands every year coming to the world renowned Stockton International Riverside Festival for instance, and the Stockton Weekender festival which precedes it – are easy champions for us. I will be out on the streets talking to them in coming weeks about what they love about the place, as well as asking local residents what keeps them here.

I can guess what they will say: it is a town rightly proud of its gold award as a Champion of Champions in Britain in Bloom; Preston Park was a finalist in the museum of the year this year; the borough's town centres have been revitalised, the villages within the town are chocolate box pretty and the River Tees has nature reserves along miles of its banks. The schools are great, the transport networks are excellent and the workforce highly skilled.

The Facebook page, Twitter campaign (#Stockton #NotACrapTown #GreatTown) and short video my team and I will be putting together will hopefully be enough to convince Sam Jordison and Dan Kieran to keep us out of their book. But if for some reason we are unsuccessful, we shall have to take small comfort from the fact that they have actually listed the town as Stockton "Upon" Tees instead of "On" Tees on their shortlist – and that's a pretty crap mistake if you ask me!

• Louise Baldock is Labour's candidate for Stockton South in the next general election